Chapter 19: Harvesting Intelligence

  For several days in a row, Hobart was busy dealing with the daily affairs of the 76th Division's fortifications, watching naval intelligence, and observing the movements at sea.

  As Karp said, the East Sea is indeed a symbol of peace. After waiting for several days, not a single pirate appeared in the second condition that Hopody requested, which is almost a miracle on the Great Route.

  Is this still the Great Pirate Era? Not a single pirate can be seen?

  Hobadi lay on the chair, his head tilted back against the ceiling, a stack of documents thrown on the office desk, rubbing his eyes.

  "The East Sea is indeed a place that wears down one's will. This won't do, if things go on like this. These guys don't even know how to categorize intelligence, all they bring up are useless pieces of information." Hobodi stood up from his chair and patted his own face: "I'll just have to go into town and take a look around! Maybe there will be some new breakthroughs."

  As he went out the door, he casually hailed the short soldier on duty that day, Marte, and Hobodi left the base in casual clothes.

  Arriving at Bergen Town, Hobodi stopped in front of the door with a sign that read 'Madam Marigold's Tavern' and walked in after patting the gold coins in his pocket.

  When it comes to intelligence, it's usually the fastest flowing here. However, the drawbacks of intelligence here are also very obvious, authenticity and time difference, can't be trusted at all.

  As soon as I walked in, a faint scent of wine and the smell of men's sweat hit me, but the most intense was the refreshing jasmine fragrance that deliberately masked the first two scents in the air.

  He walked up to the bar and ordered a glass of dark beer from the bartender, pretending to be in deep thought as he drank alone.

  As he listened to the men chatting in the tavern, Hobodi discovered that most of those who came here to drink were fishermen from the Jaco Islands.

  Sometimes I hear complaints like this: "You don't know, yesterday I lost a fortune fishing. A precious seafood delicacy, the giant squid, broke through my net and escaped with its eyes wide open. If it were sold at the Rogu Town Cooking Festival, who knows how much money we could make?"

  "Oh dear, if I'm going to say it like that, I've also suffered quite a loss recently. For some reason, in the Sambas Sea near the Konami Islands, there have been some strange fish people appearing, they always tear up my fishing nets at the bottom of the sea, and I haven't had any harvest for two weeks now. My wife has even taken the kids back to her parents' house, if this keeps going on..."

  There is no doubt that these messages are just like the useless intelligence collected by those incompetent subordinates of mine, all rubbish.

  Apart from the guy who opened his mouth about 'Fish People', the chatter in this tavern is completely worthless.

  "Is this young man a new face? Has he just moved into town?" Behind the bar, a beautiful woman with a lingering charm walked out, holding a bottle of dark beer, and came to Hobodi's side, refilling his almost empty glass.

  "Thank you."

  "This is going to cost you, okay?" The beautiful woman batted her eyelashes and then said, "You didn't come to my bar just to drink, little brother. Are you looking for some information or something?"

  Hoboldi looked at her in surprise, not expecting the woman to be so perceptive. He nodded: "You must be Mrs. Malindor!"

  "What kind of intelligence do you need? The dense fishing grounds that fishermen need? The active pirate group news that pirates need? Or... "Mrs. Malindo stared at the iron fist in Hopody's hand: "The underground world needs black market auctions, arms?"

  Hobbit stared at Malindy intently, then suddenly smiled: "What are you talking about?"

  Mrs. Marindor didn't hide it at all, and burst out laughing: "No need to probe, the new commander of the 76th branch. This town, no, the entire East Sea only has this one household, and the East Sea is too peaceful, nobody will buy anything, so let's get straight to the point! One piece of information for 100,000 Beri."

  "One hundred thousand, are you kidding me?" Hobodi shook his head, and the other party opened their mouth wide like a lion.

  "Is this emblem worth it?" Mrs. Malinda took two steps back, one hand tearing open the slit of her long skirt, on the inside of her thigh, a smiling skull drew a diagonal line.

  That sign is recognizable to Hopper, and Hopper's eyes narrow: "Are you a subordinate of Donquixote Doflamingo, one of the Seven Warlords? If you know my identity, aren't you afraid I'll catch you?"

  Hobbiti was unable to come up with anything at the base despite his many plans, but unexpectedly caught a big fish as soon as he came out.

  "The Seven Warlords of the Sea are protected by the government, so if you know what's good for you, make a decision quickly!"

  "Why don't we find a quiet place by ourselves?"

  "Little brother, I don't sell any other services, and besides, being alone is more suspicious." Madam Marlin laughed loudly, her snow-white cleavage making the entire tavern filled with gulps of saliva.

  "Give me news of the East Sea pirate gang, and don't bother if the reward is less than five million." Hobodi said quickly, pulling out a bag of gold coins from his pocket.

  "Oh? Looks like you're preparing for a big appetite, huh. Alright!" Mrs. Marlin whispered, and Hobodi cooperated by leaning in close to her ear. All he could hear was Mrs. Marlin's voice saying: "Ten days ago, in the waters around Dawn Island, the 5 million Beri bounty 'Iron Rod' female pirate, Yarrita, was spotted in that area. In the Orange Town of the Olga Islands, a 15 million Beri bounty was logged in just a few days ago. As for the next piece of information, I'm not sure if it's true or false... In the Konami Islands, there's a rumor that a great pirate has returned from the Grand Line. According to my sources, the most likely candidate is Arlong, the fish-man who was freed by Jinbe 6 years ago and is now the captain of the Fish-Man Pirates with a bounty of 200 million Beri. But to be honest, this seems a bit unlikely... If a great pirate from the Grand Line were to appear in the East Blue, it's impossible that the East Blue Navy wouldn't have any warning signs at all. The second piece of information with low credibility is about the 'Pirate Admiral' Krieg Pirates, who are currently recruiting members in the waters around Sambas!"

  "Let's get down to business, you only have two genuine items, and you want to sell them for 100,000? You think it's that easy to make 100,000?" Hobadi shook his head and put away the gold coin bag: "No way, these aren't even worth 100,000."

  "Hey, I've already told you about the recent pirate situation in the East Sea. Commander, are you going to eat and leave without even wiping your mouth? Don't be like that~ I'll keep you company tonight." Marlinde pretended to pout, quickly wrapping her arms around Hobardy's arm and leaning forward with her snow-white chest.

  Hoboldi's face remained expressionless, and he shook his head, saying: "This information is not enough. Since you are a subordinate of Doflamingo, you should know something about the black market and underground auctions. Tell me those messages, and I'll pay you double."

  "Wow~ Wow~ Wow~" Marlin quickly withdrew her arm to cover her mouth, feigning surprise, with a playful expression staring at Hobardy: "What did I just hear? A navy actually wants to enter the underground world? If reported to the Navy Headquarters..."

  "In that case, there will be one more corpse in the town's harbor tomorrow." Hobodi said in a low voice.

  Marlin's expression stiffened, she stared at the man in front of her for two or three seconds, and found that those ancient well-like pupils couldn't see anything. These eyes, he had only seen them in some desperate fugitives' eyes before.

  A hint of helplessness crept into Malin's heart as she silently cursed, "Those guys from the Navy Headquarters are indeed not easy to deal with."

  Marlin quickly covered up the hint of fear in her eyes and immediately changed to a helpless smile, saying: "To be honest, Donghai doesn't have an underground world. You great navigators who come from afar may think that auction houses are everywhere, but in conservative Four Seas, ordinary people can hardly find them."

  "But still some, right?" Hobodi grunted.

  Marlin took out a mask that covered her entire face and placed it on the counter: "If you go to Beihai, wearing this mask in an empty alleyway on Minyong Island's main street will lead someone to take you to the underground black market."

  Hobbit rudely put the mask into his bosom, took out two bags of gold coins and threw them on the bar: "You see, I'm very trustworthy, I hope your information can also be trusted!"

  Marlin picked up the gold coins, and a joyful expression reappeared on her face. She looked at Hoboldi's masculine face, full of resentment, this guy who didn't understand how to cherish a beauty, had just intimidated her not long ago.

  "It's really hard to imagine what someone like you is doing in a place like that." Malinda said with a pout.

  Hobbit didn't answer, instead he chuckled: "May I ask you two questions?"

  "What's wrong?"

  "Are you interested in being my secretary? My base is currently full of idiots, I need to find someone smart to help me share some tasks."

  "Are you kidding me?" Marlin Dore laughed and revealed the pattern on the inside of her thigh, firmly stating her stance under the flag of Dortmund.

  "So next question..." Hobodi pulled out a portrait of a young girl with pigtails from his pocket: "Have you seen this girl?"